It’s around 3:00 p.m. and I’ve just come home from a long day of school. Instead of grabbing a snack or taking a nap, I do what just about any 21st century teen would do: log onto Tumblr and check if I have any new notifications so that I could feel a sense of happiness and delight in my very exciting life. Instead, I’m bombarded with a symphony of complaints and distress from teens who have it much harder than anyone else in the world. Let’s have a moment of silence for the following people who are truly suffering.

“Aww man I just stubbed my toe on a table FML :’(“

“I can’t believe the whole pizza fell to the floor FML”

“I couldn’t find my friends at lunch so I had to sit alone. FMLFMLFML.”

If this sounds familiar, then welcome to the Internet, where angsty teenagers gather up and rant about their heart-wrenching problems and horrifying lives. (Let’s just disregard the fact that the Internet is also home to other various things, such as videos of drugged British toddlers back from the dentist.)

If you have never heard or seen the phrase “FML” before, then allow me to explain. FML stands for “f*** my life”, which honestly, is a pretty dramatic phrase for petty things that should not even categorize your life as f***ed.

Maybe something bad did happen to you, like maybe your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you, your parents are getting a divorce, or your dog died. But honestly, does posting it onto Twitter really help? Will Facebook automatically solve your problems, say “poor you! let me use my magical Internet powers and save you!” and suddenly your life is just as great as ever? To be frank, I can’t take people who say “FML” in a non-sarcastic way seriously. I never really quite understood why people felt the need to say “FML.”

I’m just starting to get the feeling that people are only using the phrase for attention, all of that “woe is me” stuff just so that people would think they’re even more of a brooding, dark soul than Morrissey of The Smiths (just read the lyrics to “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”, you’ll know what I mean.) I’m not really sure. I guess it’s just a big pet peeve of mine. Maybe it’s your pet peeve as well and you could sympathize with me. Or maybe you are someone who tends to use FML and think that I’m complaining about practically nothing.

I’m not going to act completely saint-like and say that I never partook in the trend of misusing the phrase FML, but I only used it in an obviously sarcastic manner.

So chin up, life isn’t that bad after a while. I’m speaking, of course, from only 15 short years of experiencing life, but honestly, not everyone is out to get you. Life doesn’t stop for everybody and make things better at their will. And even when life does seem to turn for the worse sometimes, it won’t always stay that way. Things will get better if you adopt a better attitude instead of bringing yourself and others around you down.

All in all, I just wish that there could be a day in my life where I could log onto any social networking site and not be smothered by 15+ statuses about how much their life is “f***ed.” It’s a given that it won’t happen any time soon as long as teenagers are fueled with angst and a need to complain about everything, but one can dream, right?